(Letter) x 2 - Damon

[dorrien.perseus.drakos]

Dorrien had been running a lot today.

First, he'd run all the way from the breakfast table to the library, and then to the quidditch pitch, before someone finally told him that his brother was in the Ravenclaw common room. And now, Dorrien, even though he was very seriously late for History of Magic, was making his way up the seriously long climb to the Ravenclaw Common Room. Seriously, he thought to himself as he panted slightly on the entrance of the Ravenclaw common room - where the hell was twin ESP when you needed it? Dorrien would have heartily enjoyed knowing exactly where Damon was at all times. He was not sure Damon would have enjoyed it half as much.

Anyway, today he was sure even Damon would enjoy what he had to say - because in his hands were two letters. From Cupid. They had finally been matched, and they'd been matched TOGETHER - which was epic, because it would've sucked if it had only been one of them. Dorrien couldn't help but feel a little scared - after all, it was more likely than not to be someone scary. He didn't always have the best experiences with new people, and especially not with slytherin girls - except that one he'd met down the lake, but he wasn't entirely sure that had been a good experience.

He looked around for his brother, and spotted him within seconds, which meant that he immediately made his way over, got his attention with a very loud, "DAMON!" before hand, and then twitched around a bit before plonking the letters in front of him. "Cupid's letters! They sent me yours too!" He looked at them reverently. He almost couldn't wait to open it, but he almost didn't dare, either. The name inside would be of the person that he would spend the rest of his life with. Which was why he looked tentatively at his brother, and said, "Should we...you know...open them?"

[OOC: The credit for this thread goes to Cupid ]

[damon.achilles.drakos]

The sun was just peaking over the Black Lake, sending rippling golden rays across the surface as Damon sat by a tall window in his common room and watched the water. He had set out this morning to work on an essay for Transfiguration, but had ended up propping his feet up on the table, right on top of his parchment, with his hands behind his head staring out the window. Damon would have died if he had to be stuck in one of those dungeons all the time, and while he figured it didn’t bother the Slytherins all that much, since they were creatures of the dark in their own right, he felt bad for the Hufflepuffs. If he were stuck in their house, he most likely would have petitioned for a change of common room, but then again, he was more contrary than your average Hufflepuff.

In fact, now that he was thinking about it, very few things ever made Damon happy, that is except his twin brother. He had once been described as “surly” by one of the girls he causally dated, which is the only kind of dating one could do in a world run by the God of Love. Still, the description stuck with him so much so that he now often saw himself this way, at odds with everything and everyone. Really the only person he got along with was Dorrien, and much of this was driven by his need to protect his twin, who often didn’t see the world for what it really was, cruel.

Damon was startled out of his reverie by that very same twin’s voice shouting his name across the common room. His eyebrows shot up and his feet plunked to the floor, immediately his eyes darted around the room as if his brother were somehow in trouble. Damon smiled at his brother, a rare thing for the contrary Ravenclaw, that was until he saw what Dorrien held in his hands. He tried not to think about it as he greeted his brother, though the smile quickly left his face “Dorrien, you little imp, I was looking for you earlier to let you know that I was gonna miss breakfast” he stated as he watched his brother twitch in his excitement. Dorrien sat down across from him, gripping the blasted letters that would change everything between them, maybe forever. Damon’s blue eyes locked on his brother’s, the one feature that was exactly alike in the two twins, and tried to calm the racing of his heart. It seemed impossible that they had received their letters together, Damon constantly worried that he would get his first and wouldn’t be able to properly take care of Dorrien anymore.

He didn’t even realize his hands were shaking until he looked down at the two letters on the table, his eyes returning to Dorrien’s as he tried to figure out what names they contained. God if Dorrien was stuck with someone awful he would march right up to that pansy god and punch him in the face. With a sigh Damon finally responded, “Well, I guess there is no reason to put it off, better to prepare ourselves for what’s to come.” Damon reached his hand out and picked up the letter marked with his name and turned it over in his hands. Such a small thing could change someone’s life in such a big way. Damon sighed, looking back up at his brother with a blank slate on his features, “How about we open them together on three, you count” he added, sliding his thumb under the seal and waiting.

[dorrien.perseus.drakos]

His heart was beating away like crazy.

Seriously, he supposed he should be calmer and more in control of himself. He had loads of friends who were girls, and this would be the same, right? Right? But he supposed what was making him more nervous was the fact that Damon would have someone to spend time with - someone he might potentially like more than he liked Dorrien. That wouldn't happen, would it? He looked at Damon beseechingly at this point, trying to tell him not to ever do that, but Damon seemed distracted as well. He even seemed to be shaking slightly.

That made Dorrien shaky too. Damon was his pillar of strength, the fact that his twin, too, was scared about this made him feel even worse. He gulped uncomfortable, picked up his letter, and started talking. "One...Two...Three," he said, ripping apart his letter just a moment later. He read over it almost without comprehension, so worried was he about the whole thing, and immediately he turned to his brother. "Who did you get? Who did you get?!" he said.

But he didn't wait to hear the answer, because he'd just realized whose name it had been on his letter. He went back to his own letter, just to double check, and ran his finger lightly over the name - Isabel Harper. The ink got all splotchy and made his fingers dirty - why couldn't they just use ball point pens like the muggles did? But Isabel...oh dear God. She was his friend, one of his closest friends, and well, he would never have imagined that she might turn out to be his match.

"Damon, I got Isa," he whispered, reverently, his face the brightest shade of red that anyone had ever seen him. Damon would, of course, understand completely how weird it was. Isabel was his best friend, almost like his sister. He couldn't even imagine sitting with her wearing dress robes. Were things going to get awkward and terrible between the pair? And who HAD Damon got as a pair?

And why was he grinning like an idiot, just then?

[damon.achilles.drakos]

Damon shared a look of mutual fear about the unknown with his twin as they both held their letters ready, though Damon immediately felt guilty about it and tried to look more sure of himself. He was supposed to be the strong one, the one that looked out for Dorrien, and he couldn't show any weakenss now, even if he was scared to death. He gave his twin what he hoped was a reassuring smile as Dorrien counted to three, then ripped open the seam of his envelope just as his brother was tearing into his. They both sat in silence for a moment as they read through their letters, though Damon had to read through it two or three times before the name really stuck with him. Damon flicked his eyes back up to Dorrien as he asked him who he got, still not really sure how he felt about it as he said quietly "Ceridwen King."

Damon only vaguely even knew who Ceridwen was, and that was only because she played Quidditch for Gryffindor, but beyond that he really didn't know anything about her. She was pretty, but in the end did it matter what she looked like? This was the girl that was hand-picked for him by Cupid, the girl that was destined to take him away from his brother. He already was dreading this, especially when his brother looked over at him and revealed that he had Isa. Isabel was one of his twin's best friends, a rather air-headed but sweet Hufflepuff that wouldn't hurt a fly. At least he didn't have to worry about Dorrien being stuck with some evil harpy Slytherin, at least he was already comfortable with Isa and she would treat him well.

A crooked smile pulled at the corners of Damon's mouth when he saw the blush take over his twin's face. "Aww, Dorrien, that is awesome news! You don't have to worry about getting to know a stranger, and you already know Isa is a great girl. I'm sure it feels a little weird now, but it's going to be great I know it" Damon told his brother, before standing up and pacing the floor as he thought about his match. "Ceridwen on the other hand, I don't know anything about her..." he added, almost to himself as he continued to pace the floor, running his hands through his brown hair.

[dorrien.perseus.drakos]

He still couldn't believe his match was Isabel.

It was still an odd thought for him to process - but his brother's words gave him some amount of hope, they always did do that. If Cupid had decided that Isabel was the girl for him, he'd make it work with her. And at least she was his friend, that would help a lot. He grinned at his brother, but sobered down when he realized that Damon was not looking very happy, and also finally processed what his brother had been saying about his own match.

Ceridwen King? Dorrien had to think for a while to give the name a face. "Well, she's good-looking, I think," he ventured, cautiously. He didn't want Damon to get mad at him, especially not if the girl turned out to be someone other than the one he was thinking about. "She's the gryffindor, right? A year older than us?" Dorrien had never actually talked to her, and considering that he didn't talk to most girls until they talked to him first or he had a question, this wasn't very surprising. What was surprising, however, was that Damon didn't seem to know her very well either.

"Maybe..." he started, and frowned doubtfully. "Maybe I can go and talk to her before hand. See what she is like...tell you things about her? Before you meet her? I don't think anyone would think there is something amiss if I randomly start asking her questions - its what I do." This sounded like something fun to do. Damon always took care of Dorrien, and Dorrien would've loved to be able to do the opposite once in a while. Which meant that he didn't really consider how obvious his scheme was, after all. In fact, he was looking at his brother with an extremely hopeful, happy expression on his face. "Wouldn't that be awesome?"

[damon.achilles.drakos]

Well, at least Dorrien had managed to dodge a bullet by not getting paired with someone who didn't deserve him. the more Damon thought about it, the more he realized there was really no one else out there that was more perfect for his brother. He just hated the fact that this whole thing meant that things were going to change between them, no matter how much Dorrien annoyed him, he was still the center of Damon's universe, and now these new planets had been thrust into oribit that he was going to have to figure out how to deal with.

"Yeah, she a 7th year Gryffindor, plays on their Quidditch team, and yeah, I guess she's pretty... I've never really thought about it" he replied to his brother's questions, still pacing the floor and running his hands through his hair. "I mean I know who she is, I've just don't usually date other Quidditch players, it gets weird you know? I made that mistake in my third year" he added, noticing that Dorrien seemed to be surprised he didn't know her better. Damon did go through a lot of girls, but never anything serious, and he never let them get in the way of the time he set aside for Dorrien.

When Dorrien offered to go feel her out for Damon beforehand, Damon stopped pacing and furrowed his brow, wondering how Dorrien always seemed to come up with these weird plans out of the blue. But actually, the more he mulled it over, the more it seemed like a good idea and a smile slowly spread over his face as he turned to face his twin. "You know Dorrien, that might not be a bad idea at all. It would at least give me an idea of what I was getting into. And if you want, I could talk to Isabel, try to figure out how she feels about getting matched with you, though I have a feeling she is probably pretty excited by the idea" Damon replied, rubbing the back of his neck as he started pacing again.

[dorrien.perseus.drakos]

"Ooh quidditch player, is she?" he asked, with a grin. "That sounds good. You'll have a readymade conversation topic, see? You can ask her all sorts of questions about quidditch..." Dorrien liked questions, he thought they were the perfect conversation starter, especially when they were about a topic that both people liked, and it certainly seemed that way for them. "She won't be that competitive, I'm sure," he said, wrinkling his nose at his brother's mention of his last girlfriend. That had been one hell of an annoying girl. "Actually, on a second thought...maybe you're better off keeping quidditch firmly away from the discussion," he said with a frown.

"Thats a brilliant idea, actually," he told his brother. "I can find out what she's like...for you. And find you something better to talk about than quidditch." Dorrien was already making his plans - accosting the girl somewhere in the corridors might seem perfectly random, and then he could force a conversation on her. He happened to be really good at that. "And you can find out what Isabel thinks for me! Because I really can't face her after this, not immediately anyway. This is just about as awkward as anything in the world can get...I just don't want it to spoil our friendship, you know?"

There was a few minutes of pause here as Dorrien thought about the potential other things that could get spoilt thanks to the letters, and his smile faded away - he didn't seem to think they were such an awesome thing, after all. Instead, he looked doubtfully at his brother, frowned, and said, "Hey...listen, Damon? Once you're going out with Ceridwen...well, you won't spend ALL your time with her, will you? I know she's your final match and stuff, but I don't know what I'd do without you." He frowned a bit more. "Really bug Isabel, probably...but I'd really rather not live without you."